This year’s Anglican Churches together Lent Lunches will be held at St Michael’s Church on a Thursday on the following dates:
February 25th, March 4th, 11th, 18th, 25th 2010.

The Challenge to the people, schools and churches across the Diocese of St Albans is : dare to make a difference in your lives, in your communities and in the world by living the words of Jesus.

• READ a verse from the bible each day in Lent,
• LEARN it, PRAY about it and then
• DO something to make a difference.
• Share what you have learned and what you have done.

You can register on the Challenge website www.challenge2010.org or through your parish; ask your parish priest, churchwarden or other leader.

I like to get up to the vicarage from time to time – there’s always plenty of food to be stolen – so when I heard that Father Scott was inviting the congregation for mince pies and mulled wine before Christmas, I thought that was a great opportunity to visit.  The evening was a bit sparsely attended due to fresh snow falls blocking the roads, but a few perseverant parishioners made the journey on foot.

In November 2009 I had an opportunity to hear Dr Revd Ken Leech speak on the subject “Is there an Anglican Tradition of Social Justice?” at St Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside, London.  Ken Leech (or “Father Ken”, as he was introduced by Revd George Bush, the rector of St Mary-le-Bow) is well qualified to speak on such a subject, having been involved with Anglican social projects for over 50 years.  As a curate at St Anne’s Soho in 1969 he founded the homeless project Centrepoint .  He was later the Rector of St Matthew’s, Bethnal Green, in one of the poorer parts of the capital.  He has been involved in any number of social projects in London, and is a former director of the Runnymede Trust , a think-tank on public policy, and has written several books on related subjects.